Context:

Course name: Advanced Placement Composition and Literature

Grade level: 9th
Length of lesson: 80 minutes
Description of setting, students, and curriculum and any other important contextual
characteristics:
This lesson will be taught in a ninth grade Academic Advanced (standard) level
Collaborative English classroom at Monticello High School. The class is comprised of 20
students, each of whom is seated in assigned groups of four or five. Eight of the students are
girls, and twelve of the students are boys. The class is predominantly (two thirds) white, but
there are two African American students, two Latino students, and two white and African
American mixed students. Every student in the class speaks English fluently, though a few
students speak other languages, such as Spanish. Seven of the students in this class have an
IEP, and two of these students have case managers for behavioral issues and severe emotional
baggage. Accommodations must be made for one of our students, who has Autism; four of
our students, who have learning disabilities; and our two students who, due to emotional
issues, have trouble focusing in class. There is a collaborative teacher in the block, and
various TAs come into the room to support our students with IEPs.
This lesson will be taught in the fifteenth week of school (!). This class has a lot of
personality, and so the students often bring a lot of energy and fun. It is especially important
to hook this class early on, so that they remain on task and engaged throughout the period.
The students are for the most part comfortable in their groups, but they are still exhibiting
trouble with small and pair group work.
This lesson is the penultimate lesson in a four-week unit on the Patterns of Humanity. In
the last class, students had a discussion about Book IX of The Odyssey in which they focused
on the purpose for laws and rules in our society (building from the functioning of the Law of
Xenia in Ancient Greece). Students have been interacting with the understandings that all
humans are connected by common experience and everyone has different perspectives based
on their personal experiences and identity.
Objectives:
SWBAT:
Cognitive (know/understand):
Unit Objective 4. Students will understand that there are universal elements of Authors Craft
that form narrative fiction.
4 a. Students will understand that writers often center their stories on the growth and
development of characters.
4.1.i. Students will know that characterization is the process through which the writer reveals
the personality of a character over time.
4.a.ii. Students will know that direct characterization takes place when the writer directly states
a characters characteristics.
4.1.iii. Students will know that indirect characterization takes place when the writer shows a
characters personality through the actions, thoughts, and physical description of a character, as
well as what others say or think about the character.

4.b. Students will understand that every narrative focuses on one character (or set of characters)
and forces that oppose that character.
4.b.i. Students will know that a protagonist is the principal character (or hero) of a story.
4.b.ii. Students will know that an antagonist is a character or force that is the principal adversary
to the protagonist.
4.b.iii. Students will understand that characters are static and dynamic, flat, round.
Unit Objective 1. a. Students will understand that writers choose their words based on the
purposes for and themes of their writing.
1.a.i. Students will know that diction is a form of verbal expression through word choice.
Affective (feel/value) and/or Non-Cognitive:
N/A
Performance (do):
Unit Objective 7. Students will be able to fluidly identify and analyze the effect of the elements
of Authors Craft in specific examples from class texts.
7.a. Students will be able to identify figurative language and sensory language, tone and mood,
allusion, foreshadowing, flashback, diction, syntax, theme, setting, characterization, conflict,
plot, point of view, and irony in mentor texts.
SOLs:
CCSs:
Assessments: Methods for evaluating each of the specific objectives listed above.
Diagnostic: Students will demonstrate what they already know about by
N/A
Formative: Students will show their progress towards by
Objective 1: formative - the teacher will assess students during whole class discussion. The
teacher will discern how the students are being led to the takeaway understanding about diction
Objective 4/7: Formative - students will respond to the questions about characterization (both
by exemplifying what it is through exploring the character assigned to them, as well as through
assessing John Green's actual use of characterization) by submitting their answers to the
questions on googledocs. Teacher will use that deliverable to see how well students are
understanding characterization and its many nuances.
Objective 6: As students work in groups, the teacher will circulate to see how they are treating
one another with respect and collaboratively.
Summative:Studentswillultimatelybeassessed(todayorinafuturelesson)onby...
Analytical papers: students will have the option to analyze the effect of
characterization on themes in the novel, The Fault in Our Stars.
Materials Needed:

BeginningRoomArrangement:

Students will arrive to class and sit in their usual assigned seats in small groups.

Instructional Steps (Procedures): Detail student and teacher actions, discourse, and
behaviors.
[10min.]Activator:SentenceRevisionandshareout
StudentsarriveatclassandrespondtotheActivator,whichasksthemtoreviseasentenceso
thatitgetsintotherealmofLevel2or3thinking,notjustlevel1.EX:"Goodmorning!
Pleasetkaeoutyour2.2.2sfromlastnightandputthemontopofyourdesktobecollect.
Makesuretheyhaveyournameonthem.Then,turntotheActivatorsectionofyourbinder
andtakeoutacleansheetoflooseleafpaper.Intheupperrighthandcornerofthepaper,
writeanMLAheading.Inthemidleofthefirstlineofyourpaper,writethetitleofthis
Activator,'SentenceRevision:DeeperThinking.'Thenreadthequestionandanswerbelow.
Yourjobwillbetorevisetheanswer:
Question:DoesHazelseeherselfasanythingotherthanapersonwithcancer?Howdoes
Hazel'sselfimageasacancerpatientaffectthewaysherelatestoothers?Pleaseexplain
youranswerusingLevelTwoandLevelThreecriticalthinking.
Answer:Hazelonlyseesherselfasacancerpatientbecauseshespendsalotoftime
describingthepartsofherdayandbodythatareimpactedbycancer."
[1min.]Agenda
Gooverthedaysagenda
[5min.]Reviewreading
Studentsdiscussthefollowingquestionsattheirtables:"1.Whathappenedinchapters35of
TheFaultinOurStars?2.Shareyour2.2.2swithyourpeers."
[10min.]Characters+Characterization
Asaclass,everyonecreatesalistofallthecharactersinTheFaultinOurStars.Then,the
teacherwalkstheclassthrougheachofthetypes.Astheygothrough,theteacherasks
studentstoidentifywhichofthecharactersontheboardisroundvs.flat,andwhy.
Mainpoints:
1.Writersoftencentertheirstoriesonthegrowthanddevelopmentofcharacters.2.
Characterizationistheprocessthroughwhichthewriterrevealsthepersonalityofacharacter
overtime.3.Directcharacterizationtakesplacewhenthewriterdirectlystatesacharacters
characteristics.4.Studentswillknowthatindirectcharacterizationtakesplacewhenthe
writershowsacharacterspersonalitythroughtheactions,thoughts,andphysicaldescription
ofacharacter,aswellaswhatotherssayorthinkaboutthecharacters6.Flatvs.round
characters7.Dynamicvs.staticcharacters
[30min.]CharacterizationActivity
StudentsworkinsmallgroupstoanswerquestionsaboutHazelorAugustus(thiswillbe
assigned).Thesequestionswillbeabouttheirphysicalappearance,theirpassions,theirfears,
theirhopes,whotheyseethemselvesas,whattheirvoiceislike(describinghowtheytalk),
interesting/importantquotesthey'vesaid.Studentswillalsohavetoanswerafewquestions

analyzingthecharacters,aswellasmakeapredictionabouthowtheythinkthecharacters
willgrow.Studentswillusequotesfromthetext,andtheywillpresenttheirfindingsand
haveaconversationwithoneanotherviapadlet.
[5min.]Closure
Review:Thereisnocharacterwithoutvoice;similarly,thereisnonarratorwithoutvoice.
Inourcase,Hazelisournarrator,andsothereisnoHazelwithouthervoice.Voiceisultimately
constructedbytheauthor,whousesdiction.
[16min.]SSRandshareout
Studentsreadforfifteenminutesandthensummarizewhattheyreadtotheirtables.
Attention to Individual Student Needs: (Differentiation):
Printing out the Activator for students with disabilities in the class provides them with a
Technology Use:
Detail specific technology being used in the lesson with explanation for why it is being used.
Multimedia video clip
Materials Appendix: